Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“Colby.” I give him a hard look to zip it.
He doesn't. “What? You are. You sleep in the same room. That’s what married people do.” I close my eyes, wishing a hole would open up and swallow me.
“You left.” I suck in a breath at Kale’s deep voice. I will my body not to respond. We’re fighting. I slowly turn around to see him standing there. He looks extra pissed.
“I think you need to calm down,” Dane says. He tries to pull me behind him. Kale’s face goes from pissed to livid. I step out of Dane’s hold. Kale might be paying me to stay with him, but I’m well aware of his jealousy when it comes to me.
“Get in the car. We’re leaving,” he orders me. Colby starts to go all smiles that Kale just proved his point. I don’t let his hand go.
“No. We’re having ice cream.”
“Summer,” he warns.
“This is so good. Better than any of my shows. Anyone have popcorn?” I hear someone say.
“Be quiet, Pam, it’s hard enough for me to hear,” someone else adds.
“We’re getting ice cream,” I say again. “I’m not on the clock. You don’t pay for these hours.” I turn back around, sidestepping Dane, who is watching all of this like everyone else. I find a booth and slide in, wondering what he’s going to do next.
25
Kale
How heavy is that booth, I wonder.
“No you cannot lift the booth,” the chief barks in my ear.
“Why? You try it?” I ask, not bothering to look at him. I can’t believe I voted for this interfering SOB.
“Come on, Kale. This isn’t how you want it to go down.”
He’s right there. I didn’t want to come into town and I definitely didn’t want Summer and her brother to leave. Colby is unsure of what to do. He loves his sister and is loyal to her, but he likes it at the castle too. It’s his home now. Still, it makes sense not to cause a scene. “I have ice cream at home.”
Colby’s face brightens. “What kind? I didn’t see any.”
“It’s in the freezer downstairs.”
“In the kitchen by the pool?” he asks.
“Did he just say that Kale has a pool?” someone whispers loudly.
Colby turns around. ”Yeah, and it’s awesome. It’s big and has all these floaties and jets.”
“Big...floaties...jets...selfish asshole,” are some of the comments that float my direction. Colby’s happy face grows dark, and Summer looks pissed. She might not want to stay with me, but she doesn’t like hearing bad things directed toward me. It’s not the same as love, but it’s something. I can work with that, but only if she comes home with me. Out here there are too many influences that could convince her that I’m bad for her.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I say in as nice of a way as possible.
“Stop ordering me around. Like I said, I’m not on the clock right now. My hours are from 10 to 4 and anything that goes on the rest of my day are my choices,” Summer snaps.
Someone laughs, which causes Summer to whip around in the booth and glare in the offender’s direction until the laughter morphs into a cough. Her defense confuses me. Does she hate me or not? “Anyway,” she continues, “since it’s after hours, I’ll eat ice cream where I want, when I want, with whom I want.”
With whom? Like hell. I drag the table out from between the two bench seats. Summer releases a yelp and raises her arms out of the way. The chief lunges toward me while Colby dances toward the door.
“Dammit,” the chief curses as I throw Summer over my shoulder. There are other shouts and maybe even cries of dismay as I stride through the restaurant.
Summer’s pounding my back and telling me to put her down.
“Get the door, Colb,” I order.
“Don’t you touch the handle,” yells Summer.
“He has ice cream at home,” the boy replies, trying to cajole his sister into compliance.
“I don’t care if he has a whole creamery there. I want down.” She gives her legs a kick and narrowly misses my nuts. In the end, Colby doesn’t have to choose which of us to listen to because Colten appears in the threshold.
“You,” he sneers. “Since when are you brave enough to show your face in town?”
“Don’t worry. I’m leaving.” I jerk my head to let Colby know to go on ahead. He steps around the realtor but lingers, not wanting to leave without his sister and me.
“Good. We don’t need you ruining the appetite of everyone here.”
Summer gasps. “What’d you say?” She tries to crane her head around my back to see who is talking.
“Oh my God, Summer. I didn’t realize that was you. Your butt looks different from here. Bigger—“ I growl menacingly. Colten clears his throat. “I mean, it looks good. Really g-good,” Colten stammers.